VoIP Phone Systems

BUSINESS PHONE SYSTEMS: HOW OLD IS TOO OLD?

A business’s phone system acts as the primary method for communicating with clients. Uprooting the current system and replacing it with a new one is a delicate matter, so it’s tempting to go with the old adage—if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. However, just because something still works doesn’t mean it’s doing what it needs to be doing. Old phone systems may be draining more money out of your business than they’re generating.
Telecommunications technology is ever evolving, but what remains the same is a business’s need for a reliable communication tool. Yet when it comes to upgrading that 10-year-old push-button phone sitting on the desk, people tend to hesitate. Knowing when or if you should upgrade your phone system can be a complicated decision. Here are some signs that it’s time for an upgrade.

 
Adding or Moving Locations
If your business is moving to or opening a new location, installing an older phone system can be detrimental to your finances. The costs of uninstalling, transporting and reinstalling an older communication system can be significantly more expensive than the price of a brand new system. For this reason, alternatives to POTs (plain old telephones) are becoming more popular.

Experts say there will be over 27 million VoIP users by the year 2020, which means that a universal upgrading is practically inevitable. Alternative communication systems, like VoIP, are attractive because they offer substantial cost-saving incentives for business. You’ll find a single installation of VoIP across …

3 Steps to Take When Call Quality Drops

Call quality is a prime consideration for anybody looking to get the most out of their phone system. Nothing is more frustrating than a bad connection with a client or lead during an important phone call, and though VoIP systems have many business benefits, they have also created a new set of obstacles to overcome. Because VoIP systems rely on a fast connection on both ends, a weak connection could mean a disturbance in audio or visual quality. While we have limited control over what happens outside our networks, some things can be done internally to ensure the quality of your VoIP phone systems.

Here are five steps you can take to improve your phone call quality.
1. Calming the Jitters
VoIP delivers voice information through network packets. When functioning correctly, they are evenly spaced and delivered in a constant stream. However, network malfunctions can lead to communication delays, or the audio can be scrambled, making it hard to understand.

Minor jitters can be fixed by replacing an Ethernet cable. Using a category six cable transfers the information between networks faster, which reduces the likelihood that data will arrive out of order.

For more severe problems, installing a jitter buffer can briefly store and organize voice packets to make sure it plays them in the proper order.
2. Reduce Bandwidth Usage
The amount of bandwidth being used on a network will impact audio during a call. Monitoring your network traffic is the easy and cost-effective route to audio …

What is VoIP & How Does VoIP Work?

As the way we communicate changes and new ways to communicate appear every day, the tools we use to take advantage of those new methods also change. Today, if you are looking for communication systems for your business, you can’t go anywhere without hearing the term VoIP. And while this term has already become well known among industry professionals, you might be wondering exactly how VoIP works. Let’s break it down.

 
What is VoIP? How does VoIP work?
VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. Also known as IP Telephony or Internet Telephony,

it’s simply an alternative way to make phone calls, without a legacy phone. Or a phone line.

To get technical, VoIP takes analog audio signals (like your voice on a call) and turns them into digital data that can be transmitted over the internet. This makes it possible to connect phones over your internet connection or make calls from your computer, completely bypassing the phone company.

Since VoIP hit the market, carriers completely devoted to this service, like Vonage, are steadily growing and carriers like AT&T are adapting their services.

While these are the basics of VoIP, there’s a little more to it than logging on to Skype and making a call. Behind the invention that has the potential to completely replace the traditional phone system are different types of services and calls and different options you can add to your VoIP service.

 
VoIP Options
ATA: An Analog Telephone Adaptor allows you to connect a standard phone to your computer …

7 Security Questions You Should Be Asking Your VoIP Provider

As VoIP services continue to advance, more and more businesses are now switching to this cloud-based phone system to experience it’s myriad of benefits. However, the security aspect of this cloud-based system still remains a concern among experts as incidences of fishing scams, phone hacking, and data breaches are still prevalent.

If you’re a business owner planning to switch your organization’s phone system to VoIP, there are some crucial questions regarding security that you must ask a prospective service provider before giving the go-ahead.

1. What protection do they offer against fraud attempts, fishing scams, and toll fraud?
An efficient cloud phone system should provide protection against a wide range of fraud and scam attempts by encrypting traffic using reset default pins. Millennia Technologies frequently runs vulnerability scans to check for attempts at data breach or other security threats. They also have a Security Response Team to respond to suspected breaches and mitigate the risks immediately.
2. How do they handle a DNS attack?
In a DNS attack, hundreds and thousands of hacked computers spam their targets with data requests, forcing the server to eventually crash. A professional VoIP vendor should use a combination of firewalls, redundant servers, and continuous monitoring to ensure none of their servers get clogged.
3. Do they comply with federal guidelines?
Don’t sign up for a VoIP service unless you have checked their credentials and compliance with the required federal security guidelines. A reputable service provider like Millennia Technologies complies with all the necessary standards and provides the highest …

10 Unexpected Benefits of VoIP Phone Systems

Most business managers align themselves to the idea of implementing a VoIP phone systembecause it has one primary attractive feature: cost savings when compared to traditional phone lines and data transfer. However, when folks get a chance to dig into the details of all that VoIP can offer, the strategic benefits begin to appear. Here are ten somewhat unexpected benefits that VoIP can provide once installed:

1. Fast Data Transfer – Because VoIP utilizes the Internet as the transfer conduit, the system is only as slow as the channel it uses to move through. So, a basic 100 Mbps channel may seem slow at first, but put the VoIP on a CAT 5 channel or faster, and its speed capability begins to shine in daily use.

2. User-Friendly Connection – The hardware involved doesn’t require a degree in rocket science to get desks connected. Once the system gets set up and operating on the office network, the handsets for voice use simply have to be plugged in by Ethernet cable to the same grid. Each node then has a designated number which can be moved as easy as the employee is moved around the office.

3. Quality Performance – With a VoIP system, it will test slightly lower than the best landline connection, but most homes and offices are slapped together with short deadlines and low-cost contractor material, which means physical tests for performance don’t always reflect the practical function. Performance is noticeably a bit less where data becomes congested …

A 10-QUESTION EVALUATION FOR YOUR PHONE SYSTEM

What About Your Phone System?
Today’s business environment is fast-paced and competitive. Technology makes it possible for you to know your customers and your customers to know your business within moments. You’re harnessing the power of all your tech resources, but what about your phone system?

If you’re not already considering how to get full value from your phone system, you should be.

Therefore, savvy business owners and their IT staff know that a cloud phone system can multiply success by integrating mobility, applications and collaboration under one valuable umbrella.
Can your current system do these things?
We’ve created an easy 10-question test to evaluate if your current phone provider is delivering the full potential of a modern phone system. Any items you can’t check off suggest you may not be harnessing the full power of a world-class cloud phone system.

Do you have a clear, secure connection without any voice delays, lag, or call quality issues?
Does your system provide business intelligence based on call data? Also, elegant integration with other important business applications (CRM, ERP, applicant tracking systems, etc.)?
Do users have direct access to a live person who can answer their questions and quickly solve their problems — without engaging you?
Are you confident that your phone system is secure and completely protected against hackers?  Both via the handset and the cloud data center?
Do you have access to intuitive, easy-to-use tools for phone routing and find-me/follow-me rules?
Does your provider leverage redundancy and failover to prevent against catastrophic phone system failure …

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Millennia Technologies is a full-service voice and data solutions company for midsize to enterprise customers. Specializing in UCaaS , CCaaS , Cybersecurity , IoT , Voice , Cloud , and more. Our passion is firmly rooted in showing clients how well-designed data solutions can significantly accelerate business operations, and then celebrating their goal-shattering successes.